UK committed datacentre pipeline tops 14.6GW

Analysis of planning and project data shows the UK’s committed datacentre pipeline has grown to 173 projects totalling about 14.6GW, up from 114 projects and roughly 10GW in March. The increase follows rising demand for AI compute and a 2024 decision to classify datacentres as critical national infrastructure.

The committed total excludes roughly 82 schemes already built, which together account for about 2.6GW. A further 24 publicly announced schemes that have not entered planning represent about 4.4GW, meaning nearly 19GW of potential capacity is moving towards the grid. Where projects publish a megawatt figure, that figure is used; where they do not, capacity is estimated from floor area using a statistical model that explains about three-quarters of the variance in published capacities. A small number of large projects without published figures are estimated from industry reporting, and some minor schemes carry no capacity figure, so the 14.6GW headline is a conservative lower bound.

Regionally, London and the M4 corridor account for 82 of the 173 committed projects and about 5.2GW. The home counties and the South East add 32 projects and about 2.3GW. The largest average schemes are in the North and Scotland: the North East averages about 228MW per committed project, delivering roughly 1.6GW from nine projects; Scotland averages about 184MW across 14 schemes; and the M62 corridor averages about 128MW across 23 projects. By contrast, the average committed project in London and the M4 corridor is about 77MW. More than half of projects are sited in the south, while the largest single-site campuses are concentrated in northern regions and Scotland.

Scotland recorded the fastest growth between March and September, with its committed pipeline rising from four projects and 0.9GW to 14 projects and 2.4GW. The North East grew from six to nine committed projects, and the M62 corridor expanded from 18 to 23 schemes. In absolute terms London and the M4 corridor added the most projects and capacity, increasing from 52 to 82 projects and adding about 1.4GW. The Midlands has four committed projects totalling about 66MW. Overall, the committed pipeline increased by nearly 60 projects and about 4.5GW in six months.

Developers are targeting large brownfield sites and locations with existing high-capacity transmission infrastructure, including former power station and heavy-industrial land. These sites offer the large footprints and grid links needed for hyperscale campuses. The growth in large developments increases competition for a finite supply of grid connections and power capacity, putting pressure on transmission planning and on communities that host major projects.

Notable schemes in the pre-planning list include a proposed 1GW campus at the former Cottam coal-fired power station in Nottinghamshire, a 600MW data campus in Havering, a trio of large Scottish schemes totalling more than 1.5GW, and several 300–600MW proposals on former industrial or landfill sites. Some pre-planning projects have submitted planning applications since the September snapshot, and others are progressing through the nationally significant infrastructure project route.

At Cottam, developers and energy firms have discussed using a 300MW-class small modular reactor design. The reactor design completed its generic design assessment in March 2026. Even with a compressed construction timeline compared with large nuclear plants, first power from small modular reactors is not expected before about 2030, while datacentre development at the site aims to come online earlier. Initial phases would therefore rely on grid connections before any on-site reactors deliver power.

More than 4GW of publicly announced capacity is queued behind the 14.6GW already in planning. The rate at which projects move from announcement to planning consent and the speed of grid upgrades will determine how much of the pipeline can be delivered and where the next large campuses locate.